Archived SME tax news

MPs reporting on HMRC’s 2011/12 accounts have called on it to be “more aggressive and assertive in confronting corporate tax avoidance”. The report reveals that MPs are less than confident in HMRC’s ability to deal with big business taxation, together with RTI, tax credits and benefits cheats.

Monday's BBC Panorama programme exposed the problem that affects tax authorities worldwide: nominee directors and offshore companies.

The First Tier Tax Tibunal (FTT) has found that sums paid to beneficiaries of Rangers' £47 million Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) scheme were loans and not employment earnings.

A summary: in November 2012 MPs from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) interviewed executives from Starbucks, Amazon and Google in order to investigate why these type of companies appear to pay so little tax in the UK.

The Supreme Court has just spent three days hearing the arguments to extend Legal Advice Privilege to chartered accountants and tax advisers.

The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) has launched a consultation on implementing employee owner status. This follows an announcement by the Chancellor at the Conservative party conference on a new scheme to encourage employee share ownership.

The Chancellor will deliver his Autumn Statement at 12.30pm on 5 December 2012.

HMRC are set to risk-review 27,400 personal service companies for IR35 and increase IR35 enquiries in 2012/13.

A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) report has condemned the use of “off-payroll” civil servants by government departments and the BBC. Key issues are corporate governance and taxation but this also exposes lack of accountability in the civil service.